


A Song of Fire and Icing

by TaoAndThen



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Birthday Cake, Birthday Presents, Clint Feels, Cutesy, Dorkiness, F/M, Fluff, For a Friend, Nerdiness, Pop Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2013-12-08
Packaged: 2018-01-04 02:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1075561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaoAndThen/pseuds/TaoAndThen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(For my friend Aurelie as a belated birthday gift)</p><p>Newbie agent Aurelie is frustrated that everyone has forgotten her birthday.  To make it up to her Clint goes out of his way to give her an over-the-top gift she'll never forget.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Song of Fire and Icing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NowImJustSomebodyThat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NowImJustSomebodyThat/gifts).



Aurelie hadn’t expected much from the others considering a good portion of the other field agents she worked with were out handling a crisis in Uganda, but was a little acknowledgement too much to ask for?  Apparently.

Having a knack for sniping Fury had assigned Clint to work with her and hone her abilities.  It was decided that she would she was to live temporarily in Stark Tower to both shadow him and use the practice range.  Though she still had a long way to go she was disturbingly adept at learning how to work without a scope.  But her frustration was inhibiting her ability to concentrate, let alone aim, and her apathetic demeanor was both annoying and a cause for concern.

It was like a game reverse hangman.  She could hit the limbs and torsos of the targets with ease but after forty-some attempts she hadn’t managed to fire a fatal shot.  Sighing dejectedly Aurelie took off her ear muffs and set down her sniper rifle.  She looked up at the balcony one floor above where Clint had been watching her lackluster performance.  Taking his earmuffs off and hanging them around his neck he called down to her, “What are you doing?  You’re not done yet!”  She ascended the metallic staircase and rolled her eyes.  “From the looks of it I can’t even start,” she grumbled.  “I need a break.”  She headed for the exit but he put a hand on her shoulder and spun her around before she could leave.

Not only was something keeping her from optimal performance, something was weighing her down.  This wasn’t the Aurelie that Clint had spent morning, noon, and evening with; this was a bitter and frustrated imposter.

“What’s gotten into you?”

With an angry huff she exclaimed, “…not cake!”  She sighed in extreme annoyance.  “Even a cupcake with a candle on it would be fine.  But no, nothing.  God forbid anyone remember it’s my birthday.”  She brushed his hand off and left to go take a shower and change into something more comfortable.  He cursed under his breath and went to go find Natasha.  She was in her bedroom indulging in her secret guilty pleasure, watching romantic comedies.  Her door burst upon and she scrambled to find the remote control.  She paused it just in time but wasn’t able to turn it off before he noticed.

“I have a problem and need your ad- Are you watching _How to Lose a Guy in Just Ten Days_?”

“No,” she snapped defensively.  “Why would I watch that drivel?”

“Because you’re secretly a sap at heart?”  He ducked as a remote control was thrown in his direction.  “Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you.  For now.  So apparently today is Aurelie’s birthday and everyone forgot, and I feel like a total ass.”  She smirked.  “You should considering you have a huge crush on her.”

“You’re one to talk Mrs. McConaughey- Ow!  Stop throwing things at me!  Anyway, I wanna make it up to her.  She’s really upset about it and I can’t think of what to get her.”

“Do you honestly expect a material object to kiss it and make it better?  You can’t just buy something riding on the hope that it’ll be enough to cheer her up.  It needs to be personal.  Special.  What’s she into, besides shooting things?”

“Well she writes a lot…and she likes plants.”  Natasha groaned and dropped her face into her palms.  “You have no idea how underwhelmed I am by you right now.  You’ve had a crush on her for months and the best you can do is ‘she writes a lot and she likes plants’?”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!  Gimme a minute…She’s a huge nerd.  _Supernatural, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones_ , all that stuff.”  Natasha’s eyes lit up.  “You don’t say.  Come on, we need to find Steve.”  She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him along to find the super soldier.

 

 

**TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER**

“Give her the cake, then the custom made present, and pray to God, Odin, whoever, and hope that it’s enough?”  Natasha nodded encouragingly.  “If she’s as nerdy as you claim then you’re golden.”

“I can’t remember the last time I was no nervous.  My palms are so sweaty I feel like I might drop the cake.”

“Budapest is nothing but you can’t give a girl a damn cake?” she teased before giving him a gentle push in the direction of Aurelie’s bedroom.  “And don’t forget what the moon, sun, and stars mean!”

“Yeah, yeah, something sentimental that’ll make her weak in the knees.  Got it.”  She folded her arms over her chest and shook her head.  “Something tells me this could end in a foodfight.”

 _It’s just a cake, it’s just a cake, I can fight aliens, a cake is no big deal.  Right?  I’m screwed.  She’s in a bad mood…Is now the best time to tell her I like her?  No, probably not.  At the very least it might cheer her up.  That’s something, right?_ As he made his way to her room he was so lost in thought that, after reaching her door, he was still standing there contemplating whether or not the plan would work.  Luckily for him she heard the approaching footsteps and opened the door only to find a very distant and confused looking Clint.

She tilted her head in slight confusion, eyebrows knit in a v-shape.  “Did you…need something?” she asked slowly.  His head jilted as he snapped back to reality.

He was so busy contemplating whether or not this was a good idea that he hadn’t thought of what to say when he saw her.  “Um, no, not me.  You on the other hand…I have cake!”  He pushed the box into her chest.  Startled she took it from his hands and set it down on her orderly desk, plentiful with vacant space for it.  “Thanks?  I think?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute or five or so?”

 _What the hell is wrong with him?_   She glanced over at the cake box.  _Well he did bother to get me a cake...Unwarranted but not unappreciated!_   “Sure.”  She stepped aside.  He noticed a Dothraki-English dictionary on her desk, and her collection of the _A_ _Song of Fire and Ice_ series stacked on top of it.  _So far, so good,_ he thought to himself as she closed the door behind him.  _As far as the cake goes that is…_

“So what’s up?”

“I was thinking about what you said earlier.  Sorry I forgot your birthday.”  She shrugged.  “It’s fine.  I should have expected that it wouldn’t be a high priority for anyone.”

“Well it should be for me,” he asserted, making her even more confused.  “OK…Why?”

 _Because you’re I like your face.  That’s a great opening line._   “Because, um…”  He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and his eyes darted towards the box.  “Just look at the cake.  That should explain it.”

“If you say so.”  She sounded much more perky compared to earlier and eagerly opened the box.  Inside was a medium-sized cake with an intricate frosted design.  Each corner had the symbol for one of the four primary houses, the Baratheons, the Starks, the Lannisters, and the Targaryens.  The cake itself had a white frosted moon on one side bedecked with edible silver sprinkles; the other had an orange frosted sun surrounded by little yellow frosted stars covered in orange sprinkles to match the sun.

Her eyes widened and she dropped the box cover.  “This…is…awesome!” she exclaimed, squealing with excitement.  “An  _A_ _Song of Fire and Ice_ cake?!  And the icing is so…so awesome that I can’t think of a better word.  I…Um…”  Eyes still wide, she put her hands on her eyes, unable to tear gaze away from it.  “This is really impressive.”  She blinked a few times and her expression went flat.  She turned to him.  “…the cake was Natasha’s idea and Steve made it, didn’t he?”  She narrowed her eyes at him, pretending to scold him and then burst out laughing.  “Doesn’t matter.  Thanks.  Thanks a lot Clint, I really appreciate it.  But why is the icing in the shape of the sun, moon, and stars?”

“The cake and theme may have been Steve and Natasha’s doing but I personalized it a little bit because-”

“Personalized it?” she interrupted curiously.  He nodded and pulled a small box out of his pocket, handing it to her.  “You’ll see.”  She put her hands over her mouth and gasped.  “But Clint, you haven’t even met my mother yet!” she joked.  He rolled his eyes.  “Just take it, would ya?”

“Pushy,” she teased as her took the small box and opened it.  Her eyes widened again, again this time gasping in actual shock.  Inside was a gold chain necklace and a dragon charm.  It had red and black scales and crimson wings with black streaks running along the edges and over the bones.  It was perched atop the word ‘Dracarys’.

“Is this supposed to be Drogon?” she asked quietly, excitement building in her voice.  “It’s…obviously something you had Tony make…but I don’t care!  I love it!”  She quickly pulled it out of the box and tried it on.  The charm settled just over her sternum.  She twirled it around carefully and then looked up at Clint, who was grinning in satisfaction.  “I’m glad you like you it.”

“Like it?!  Weren’t you listeneing?  I love it!  You did all of this just for me?  This is without a doubt the best birthday gift anyone has ever-”  She abruptly stopped and glanced over at the cake.

 _Khal Drogo called Daenerys ‘moon of my life’ and she called him her ‘sun and stars’.  And the necklace has one of her dragons on it…The one she named after him.  Oh God.  Oh my God._   She returned her attention to the archer.  “Hey, Clint?  You do know the significance of the sun, moon, and stars right?  And how they tie into dragons?”  She twirled the dragon charm nervously, trying her hardest not to blush as she waited for his response. 

Trying to sound as casually confident as possible he replied, “Yeah.  That’s why I picked it.  After Natasha explained it to me,” he added quietly.

“Because you’re too shy to ask me out yourself, so you’re using cake frosting to do it?” she deduced, grinning slightly.

 _Caught red handed_.  “Something like that,” he said sheepishly.

“Alright then…Wanna marathon season one?” she asked with an eager smile.  He nodded.  “Yeah, sure.  Then I’ll know what the hell the rest of it means.  The deer and the lion and the…is that a wolf or a regular ‘ole dog?”

“Great.  But cake first.  Whoa…What’s with the bruise on your forehead?”

“Natasha was throwing things at me.”

“What did you do this time?”

“…that’s classified.”


End file.
